New Hampshire Deserves Better - Affordable Childcare

When my wife and I decided to start a family, we decided that my wife would stay home with our two kids.  That is a choice we were lucky to have.

That was 34 years ago.  Today, most families in New Hampshire do not have that option, not with the high cost of housing, healthcare, education and energy.  And many women – and men – do not want to interrupt their careers and “stay home with the kids”.

Today, about 52,000 New Hampshire children under 6 years old live in families where both parents, or the sole parent of the household, are in the labor force and that child needs childcare.

And as many of you know, all too well, finding that care is not easy AND not cheap.  In 2023, the average annual price for an infant in center-based childcare in New Hampshire was $17,250. That is equivalent to nearly 12% of the median income for a two-parent family and over 37% of the median income for a single parent family.

Both of those percentages are SIGNIFICANTLY higher than the affordability benchmark of seven percent of household income set by the federal government. To meet that definition of affordable childcare a married couple in New Hampshire with one child would have to earn $246,428; with one infant and one toddler in childcare they would need to earn an annual household income of $475,000!

There also is a significant shortage of available childcare openings; between 2018 and 2022 there was an average annual shortage of about 8,400 licensed childcare slots. This is a particular problem here in Hampton where there currently is no licensed provider of infant care in our town. 

Both factors – the lack of enough childcare spots and the high cost of those that do exist – are forcing parents out of the workforce; an average of nearly 15,500 Granite staters between March 2023 and March 2024 EACH MONTH.  And that costs everyone:

• One estimate suggests that during 2021 families lost between $400 and $600 MILLION in wages due to inadequate childcare availability.

• Local businesses were unable to recruit and retain the workforce they need to grow and prosper.

• State revenues from the Business Profits and Business Enterprise Taxes declines

As with most things, the individuals most affected by the crisis in childcare are those who can least afford it.

New Hampshire spends about $38.8 million per year on childcare related programs, with approximately 73% of those dollars coming from federal sources.   Of that total, only $10.5 million is from state sources. Most of those funds – about 78% - are used to support the New Hampshire Child Care Scholarship (NHCCS) program which is focused on making childcare more accessible to families with low and moderate incomes.

To help make childcare more affordable, the budget I voted for and that Governor Sununu signed into law in 2023 capped the share of childcare expense a family of three earning between $34,307 and $89,180 must pay at no more than 7% of their household income; a maximum of $6,243.  

Families of three making less than $24,860 have no cost share and families of three earning between $24,860 and $34,307 pay only $5 per week.

The budget also included increases in the Weekly Standard Rates the state uses to reimburse providers who are enrolled in the NHCCS.  The reimbursement paid to providers is calculated by comparing the provider’s rate to these Weekly Standard Rates and subtracting the child’s cost share from the lesser of those two amounts.

While NHCCS certainly does provide some much-needed assistance to Granite State families with low to moderate household income, it does very little for families whose income exceeds 85% of the statewide median.   In addition, only about 7,700 children are served by the program.  This amounts to only about 18% of the state’s population under 200 percent of the poverty line and under 13 years old. 

One of the reasons for this is not enough people in our state are aware of this program.  Another is that it is a very time consuming and difficult process for those families that do know about it to enroll in the program.

But the main reason why there is so much unmet demand for childcare services is that it is extremely difficult for childcare providers to recruit and retain the childcare workers they need to have to open and operate quality childcare centers.  Turnover for childcare workers is projected to be 17% annually which is higher than the overall average in New Hampshire. 

That is – at least, in part – driven by the fact that the median hourly wage for a New Hampshire childcare worker is $15.62 an hour which is a little higher than a fast-food worker for a position that is significantly more stressful.  As a result, not enough new childcare workers enter the field.

In Maine, the state has addressed this challenge by offering salary supplements to childcare providers for eligible workers based on the workers’ level of education and experience.  This program provides eligible workers with between $240 and $540 per month in supplemental payments.  Something like this could be implemented in New Hampshire.  And since employers are the biggest beneficiaries of expanded childcare access it could – for example - be paid for by raising the fee on LLCs from $100 to $250 per year and/or tying future reductions in the business taxes to contributions towards this program.

I voted for a onetime allocation of $15 million for childcare providers to pay for staff bonuses, training, student loan repayment and other incentives to retain and recruit workers.  I also introduced a bill to – hopefully – speed up the process of obtaining criminal background checks for childcare workers.  That bill was signed into law by the Governor on August 23 of this year.

If we are serious about addressing the need for more affordable childcare in our state, we need to up our game and do much more on an ongoing and continuous basis than we are doing now.  We need to:

• Continue to utilize all available sources of state and federal funding to increase the number of available childcare spots in our state.

• Increase the state funded contribution to the NH Child Care Scholarship Program (NHCCS) so that all those who are eligible under the current program can participate.

• Expand NHCCS eligibility by raising income eligibility levels; particularly for parents of infants and 1-year olds.

• Raise the Weekly Standard Rates used by the state to reimburse childcare providers to encourage more providers to participate in the NHCCS and to increase capacity overall.

• Establish and fund an ongoing program that helps childcare providers attract and retain childcare workers.  Tie any future additional cuts in business taxes to investments by businesses in such a program.

• IInclude a requirement that all government contractors devote a portion of all funds they receive from any municipality or the state to support their employee’s childcare needs.

We will all benefit from more consistent and prioritized state funding that will enable childcare providers to function at full capacity and unlock the potential for all our families to thrive.  Doing so will also attract and retain the well-trained childcare educators our children and their families deserve. Perhaps most importantly, it will make it easier for young Granite Staters to remain here to start and raise a family. Financially secure families and a prosperous New Hampshire is good for everyone.

We cannot afford another two years of inaction on the issues such as this that really matter to us in Hampton.  That’s why I am running to represent you again.  With your help we can – and WILL – make a difference.